Delhi ministers write to PM on water shortage, ask LG to inspect supply

Environment minister Gopal Rai, addressing a press conference at Jangpura, said that Atishi’s indefinite fast has now entered the fourth day and her health was deteriorating. They held a meeting at the protest site and decided to write to the PM

New Delhi

Residents of Kusumpur Pahari line up their containers to fill water from a Delhi Jal Board water tanker. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

Cabinet ministers of the Delhi government doubled down on their claim that Haryana has not been sending the agreed-upon quantum of water, writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the shortfall issue on priority and inviting Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to take stock of the water level readings at the Wazirabad and Munak canals.

Environment minister Gopal Rai, addressing a press conference at Jangpura, said that Atishi’s indefinite fast has now entered the fourth day and her health was deteriorating. They held a meeting at the protest site and decided to write to the PM, Rai said.

“Delhi is facing intense heatwave and it should have received more allocation of water. But on the other hand, the city is getting 100mgd (million gallons per day) lesser water... We also invite Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena, all officers to Wazirabad, Bawana to see the readings of flow metres and see the water levels of the river there. Data is available for the water released by Haryana and they can see for themselves how the water has reduced,” Rai said.

Rai said the government explored all legal and administrative options, but could not find a solution to address the shortfall. “Prime Minister should now intervene. Why is Delhi getting the same allocation as 30 years back even though our population has tripled? Monsoon is about to arrive and all floodgates are opened when there is excess water but our rightful share is not being provided to us when there is a shortfall,” he said.

The environment minister said that claims of adequate water supply were completely contradictory to reports from the Wazirabad and Munak canals. “We have appealed to LG Saxena to jointly inspect the Wazirabad water treatment plant with us on Tuesday. All ministers and officers will go with him. We can check the flowcharts to ascertain how much water is being received. We will also inspect the flow meters of Munak canal,” he said.

Haryana’s Irrigation and Water Resources Minister, Dr Abhay Singh Yadav, dismissed the Delhi government’s allegations of insufficient water supply, calling them baseless and factually incorrect. Yadav said that Haryana was providing more than the stipulated 719 cusecs of water, currently supplying 1,050 cusecs to the national capital. He attributed Delhi’s water shortage to the city’s internal mismanagement rather than Haryana’s supply.

On the day, a three-member delegation of TMC MPs visited the protest site in Jangpura to express solidarity with water minister Atishi.

Mahua Moitra, a TMC MP who was part of the delegation, said: “BJP has won all seven seats from Delhi in Lok Sabha elections but the party is still treating people like this. It is shameful the BJP is playing politics over an issue like water when such high temperatures are being recorded. In 1994, Delhi-Haryana had water sharing agreement and now the water supply to Delhi has been reduced by 100mgd. They have stopped water for millions of people... this is BJP’s revenge politics.”

Sagarika Ghosh, another MP who was part of the delegation, said that it was shameful that the Delhi water minister has been forced to sit on a fast for city’s access to water. “We have come to show our support and solidarity. We will fight against the dictatorship. Water is a basic right and it is dirty politics to discriminate on an issue like water. Central government is not taking it seriously. Centre should tell Haryana government to release water for Delhi,” she said.

Later in the night, a section of AAP supporters held a candlelight march near the site to show their solidarity.

Supply continues to inch up

Water supply in the Capital, meanwhile, continued to improve marginally over the past three days after hitting the season’s lowest of 888mgd on Friday. The summer bulletin issued by the Delhi Jal Board says that the supply level rose to 896mgd on Saturday, 906mgd on Sunday and further to 913mgd on Monday.

DJB’s water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Bawana are operating below their capacity, and the water utility received around 500 zero-water complaints on its helplines, according to the bulletin on Monday.

Delhi water minister Atishi, in a recorded video message, said, “Delhi does not have its own water, all the water here comes from neighbouring states. But for the last three weeks, Haryana has reduced sending water to Delhi. The Haryana government has been giving 100mgd less water to Delhi for the last three weeks.”

She said: “Doctors have told me that my blood pressure is decreasing, my sugar level is decreasing, and my weight is decreasing. No matter how bad my health is, no matter how much pain my body is in, my resolve to hunger strike is strong and until 2.8 million Delhiites do not get water, my indefinite hunger strike will continue.”

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva termed Atishi’s strike a “drama” for water. “It is extremely shameful that cases of deaths due to heatwave are continuously increasing in Delhi, and instead of taking measures to prevent them, the government is engrossed in the drama of air-conditioned satyagraha,” he said.

“Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjay Singh or Atishi, all are accusing the Haryana government of not supplying water, while the Haryana government and their officials have proven with several pieces of evidence that they are supplying more water to Delhi than the stipulated amount,” he said.